“A very entertaining but slightly shallow work.”

The younger you are, the more frequent it is to hear the words “respect your elders”, a universal sentiment shared by so many cultures, which have always found importance in showing reverence to those who have done their time as functioning members of society. However, we do see cases of abuse directed towards the senior community, whose physical and mental vulnerability is often exploited by those who think they can take advantage without any ramifications. In his latest film The Pavilion, Dino Mustafić asks a very simple question: what happens when the elders fight back? This is a pitch-black comedy that follows the residents of an old age home who grow tired of being treated as sub-human and decide to take matters into their own hands, kidnapping the abusive staff and holding them hostage. Their demands are simple: improve their living conditions and ensure that their golden years are spent in comfort. A film that takes a straightforward premise and turns it into a very entertaining but slightly shallow work that doesn’t quite meet expectations or realize its full potential, The Pavilion is more reliable than it is innovative, being competently made but never pushing the boundaries quite as far as it seems to genuinely believe it could.

While he is often seen as one of the more acclaimed filmmakers to emerge from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mustafić has been notably absent from the director’s chair for quite some time, with The Pavilion being his first film since Remake over two decades ago. The appeal of the script written by Viktor Ivančić and Emir Imamović Pirke is not difficult to understand – this is a story about a vulnerable group rising against an oppressive system and taking control of a situation in which no one ever expected them to succeed. Coming from a country in which the concept of the underdog is very much celebrated, this reflects the marvelous resilience of the Balkans and their people. Elder abuse is not an easy topic to explore, especially since it involves stories based on the exploitation and mistreatment of people who are essentially helpless victims. The director gets around any potential controversy or discomfort that could emerge by placing the focus less on the abuse, and more on their retribution. The Pavilion plays like a darkly comedic action film, with set pieces built around the unexpected resourcefulness of these elderly characters, and while it doesn’t always seem to know exactly where it wants to go, the effort that went into it is worth our time at the very least.

Based on the material and the themes being explored, there are clear indications that this had the potential to be a very strong film. It does help that the story is effortlessly simple – it establishes a clear group of characters as the focus, both in terms of heroes and villains (and it’s easy to recognize who occupies each position), gives clear motivations and follows a common structure that is predictable, but still entertaining for what it is. While it’s not quite Dog Day Afternoon set in a retirement community, the fact that it tries to be is still ultimately worth something, even if the surrounding film isn’t as insightful as it could have been with slightly more focus on the underlying themes that are neglected after a while. The Pavilion is objectively funny throughout, and there is always something outrageously amusing about seeing these sweet, endearing elderly people transformed into fearless, gun-toting heroes. The film has a cast of well over two dozen actors, the majority of whom portray the residents engaging in this revolt, and even if The Pavilion doesn’t come together quite as well as we’d expect, their work is genuinely entertaining and enough to hold our attention for the duration.  

While it does have an important message built around how society often neglects the elderly and focuses instead on youth as a commodity, The Pavilion is more of a spectacle than a well-defined work all on its own, an attempt to be more entertaining that it was insightful. It’s definitely well-crafted and has many memorable aspects that make it worth watching, but it’s undeniably a minor work. A lot of the humor lands well, but the more serious moments aren’t as successful, which seems like a missed opportunity for commenting critically on the core ideas that informed and inspired this film. Regardless of these criticisms, The Pavilion is still a fun, entertaining film that knows how to capture the audience’s attention, taking us on a hilariously offbeat journey into a scenario that is intentionally unrealistic and heightened, but has a charm to it that is difficult to resist, even if we did crave slightly more from a film with such an endearing premise, and all the skills necessary to elevate it far beyond the final product.